


Lily's Rampage

by JWade



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 07:53:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11436465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JWade/pseuds/JWade
Summary: What if Voldemort didn't kill Lily Potter that Halloween night? What if she was just seriously injured and kept hidden at St. Mungos while she healed? She won't be happy when she wakes up.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know I don't usually write much Harry Potter fanfic, but this idea hit me and wouldn't leave me alone so here we go.

James Potter sat in his living room, listening to his baby boy’s giggles as the puffs of colored smoke emitted from the end of his wand. Despite the war going on, despite all the death and pain and fear, these were the moments worth living for. James Potter felt very secure in his hiding spot that was guarded closely by one of his oldest and dearest friends. They could never be found except by their friends, which is why when he heard the old kissing gate creak open, he grinned and set his wand high on the mantle piece, out of little Harry’s long grasp to avoid the curtains being set on fire…again and went to the door to meet the visitor. 

Lily Potter, shaking her head ruefully at her husband’s eagerness for company, set down the dish towel after drying her hands and headed towards her son who was pouting at the cessation of the pretty smoke. Just as she went to pick him up, she heard the front door explode. Must be Sirius then. He was the only one who would do something so juvenile and frustrating. Just as she turned to yell at him, she heard James yell, “Take Harry and go. It’s him. I’ll hold him off!” Her first through was that it was a cruel joke…it had to be. Voldemort couldn’t have found them. The high cold laugh that followed and the sounds of spellfire told her that this was, in fact, very real. She snatched up her son and ran up the stairs to the nursery, grabbing the stuffed toy that they had as an emergency portkey only to swear loudly as nothing happened. Anti-portkey wards then. 

Lily heard footsteps coming up the stairs and threw the strongest locking charm she could, one she had developed herself in fact, at the door. It wouldn’t hold him for long, but hopefully long enough. She had seen James’ wand on the mantle and knew that he couldn’t have gotten the best of Voldemort, not unarmed, which meant that the steps on the stairs belonged to the monster that had killed him. She pushed aside her grief and focused on saving her son. She and James had long discussed what to do in this situation and she knew that he was counting on her to save their baby. She pulled the vial of James’ blood from the hiding spot behind Harry’s dresser and used her wand to cut her hand, adding her own to the mixture. She turned to her son and drew the rune on his head, Sowilo, signifying defeat against evil, while chanting in ancient Norse. She had created this ritual herself after they had been told the prophecy. The good thing about being in hiding, it created more than enough time for heavy research and now that research would save her son’s life. At least, she hoped so. 

When she finished her chant, she looked at the lightning bolt symbol standing stark against her son’s forehead, drawn in the blood of his parents, just as the door blasted off its hinges and she saw the red-eyed man standing in the doorway and shifted herself in front of her son. “Stand aside, girl,” Voldemort sneered. He had promised her as a reward to his most loyal death eater, else he would never have offered to let her live. He somehow thought this was more fitting though. After he killed the child, he would take her back to Severus as his reward for bringing him the prophecy. 

Lily wasn’t about to just stand aside and let this monster have her child though, even if her defiance weren’t needed to power the ritual. “Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy.... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything!” she cried out as she waited for the green light to hit her. She barely had a brief moment to be surprised before she found herself flying through the air, hitting the wall and then she knew no more. 

Voldemort smirked and turned his wand to the child. The blasted child that dared to be a threat to him. The evil wizard barely spared a glance to the blood glistening on the babe’s forehead as he lazily aimed his wand and cast the killing curse and the next thing he knew was pain. Horrible, agonizing pain as his body turned to dust. He did the only thing he could think to do and threw his whole spirit at the child. If he couldn’t kill him, then he intended to possess him. He had already done the ritual to split his soul and allow for such things, so he would have a brief moment to finish things before his soul would be forced to move on. 

Harry was crying as he saw his mother flung away from him and the horrible red-eyed man shooting magic at him and when he saw the dark cloud heading for him, he started crying for mommy and daddy. He knew they would save him. They had to. They always said they loved him too much to let anything bad happen to him. He felt the heavy weight settle over his mind for a moment, before he heard a terrible scream, echoed by his own as his head hurt so badly he thought he might die before the dark cloud flew out the window and disappeared. Harry’s head was still throbbing, but it wasn’t so bad anymore. He knew that his mommy could just give him the icky pink potion and it would go away so he started to cry out for her again, wanting her to wake up and make his headache go away. 

Moments later another man came up the stairs and the toddler started to ask this man for help, but the man just glared hatefully at him and ignored him, while rushing to his mother. “Lily. Come on. You have to be okay Lily. Please,” he whispered as he ran his wand over her and started cursing. He grabbed the nearest item and turned it into a portkey to send her directly to St. Mungos, hoping that she would survive. That, of course, just made Harry even more upset as he started crying for Mommy to come back, but the man just spun on him and snarled. “Shut up you little brat. This is all your fault.” As the man started to lift his wand to the baby though, Harry’d had enough. 

“NO!” Harry yelled and the man was blasted back into the wall, just as Harry heard another sound from downstairs. It sounded like someone rather large moving around. The dark haired man just cursed, throwing the child one last glare as he turned and disappeared. 

The fact that it had been his bedtime when all this started, combined with his accidental magic outburst, and his throwing off of the possession had Harry exhausted. He didn’t want to sleep until he knew he was safe though and fought it as long as he could. Just long enough to see the giant man he knew as a friend step into the room as he finally lost his hold on consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

The celebrating in the streets was massive as word got around that Voldemort had been defeated by the Potter child. It didn’t take long at all for that word to reach St. Mungos where a young healer was working frantically to save Lily Potter’s life. He made a split second decision and hastily cast a glamour charm over the young mother, one only known by healers and generally used when taking care of someone who’s identity must remain a secret for one reason or another. Only healers knew how to reverse the charm and no healer would ever do so because of their confidentiality oaths. He had no illusions that the mother of their savior would be any safer from revenge here than if she had been displayed in Diagon Alley with a huge target on her back. Another quick flick of his wand falsified her records, even as he continued working to save her life. 

As Healer O’Malley finally got her stabilized about twelve hours later, he heard that both Potter’s were supposedly dead and that Albus Dumbledore himself had spirited the child away to safety and hidden him under the strongest wards possible and the last of his doubts about his course of action were washed away. The child would be safe and well taken care of while his mother recovered and then she could sort the mess out. In the meantime, they were both as safe as possible from any retaliation by the death eaters. His resolve was only strengthened when he got word that it was their best friend who betrayed them to the monster in the first place. 

 

While Lily Potter was being hidden in the hospital, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry appeared on a street corner on a quiet muggle street and quickly put out all of the lights in the area before making his way over towards number four. He let out a small smile as he noticed the tabby cat sitting on the fence. This would complicate things, but it was no matter. Minerva could be persuaded to see reason. “Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall,” he said genially as the cat melded into a woman. 

After a bit of dissembling during which the old professor showed her displeasure at the celebrations and lack of discretion of the revelers, she got to the point. “You know what everyone’s saying? About why he’s disappeared? About what’s finally stopped him?” When Dumbledore didn’t answer she huffed and continued. “What they’re saying is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric’s Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James are…are…that they’re…dead.” She couldn’t help the gasp that escaped as she saw the truth reflected in her mentor’s face. “Lily and James…I can’t believe it…I don’t want to believe it…oh, Albus,” she said sorrowfully as she fought off her own tears. 

The old headmaster didn’t see any point in telling her that Lily Potter’s body was gone. It wasn’t an uncommon thing for the death eaters to take the bodies of the witches with them after all. He refused to think about the obvious reasons why and instead just focused on the here and now. “I know…I know…” he said sadly patting the witch’s shoulder. 

Professor McGonagall took a deep shaky breath and continued. “That’s not all. They’re saying he tried to kill the Potter’s son, Harry. But…he couldn’t. He couldn’t kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they’re saying that when he couldn’t kill Harry Potter, Voldemort’s power somehow broke…and that’s why he’s gone.” When all she got was a nod from the wizened old man, her eyes went wide. “It’s…it’s true? After all he’s done…all the people he’s killed…he couldn’t kill a little boy? It’s just astounding…of all the things to stop him…but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?” 

Dumbledore kept his annoyance from showing on his face as he said, “We can only guess. We may never know.” He looked towards the sky impatiently. “Hagrid’s late. I suppose it was he who told you that I would be here, by the way?”

“Yes. And I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me why you’re here of all places?” she asked, not knowing if she would get an answer or not. The old wizard was notoriously secretive. 

“I’ve come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They’re the only family he has left now,” Dumbledore told her despite knowing that there would be an argument over the matter, but he could see no way to hide it from her. Not when Hagrid should be arriving with the child any moment. Sure enough he got an argument. She even offered to take in the child herself, but he knew he couldn’t let that happen. He had no idea how the child survived and the dark magic leeching from that scar on his forehead made him very nervous. His plan had been for the boy to die, thus fulfilling the prophecy and allowing him the way forward to kill Voldemort. Now he had to keep the boy out of the way. Since he survived he would need Dumbledore’s help to finish the job when Voldemort returned, and he had no doubt that the evil wizard would do so, and to do that, he needed to view the old headmaster as his salvation so that he could push the boy towards the path he needed to follow. That Lily’s only family were actually horrid people worked towards his plans. They would give the boy a hard life that Dumbledore would swoop in and save him from, thus cementing his position as the boy’s mentor and savior. 

The argument was cut off by the arrival of Hagrid and the child. He got another earful from McGonagall about leaving the boy on the doorstep with a note, but brushed her off with platitudes. He cast a quick spell to anchor the blood wards he had already placed on the boy to the residence and they all disappeared. Dumbledore was comfortable in the knowledge that once the bloodwards took hold after Harry was brought into the house by one of the residents that even Professor McGonagall would never be able to find the place again. He had a few ideas of sufficiently loyal squibs he could place in the area to watch the boy, but there was no real rush on that. His most important task now was to make sure that there was no one else who could claim guardianship over the boy. 

He returned to his office and pondered the problem before he got word that one of his troubles had just solved itself. Sirius Black was arrested for betraying the Potters and killing Peter Pettigrew and a bunch of muggles. He immediately ordered the minister to have him thrown into Azkaban, assuring her that there was no need for a trial. The world needed peace right now. They needed to put everything behind them and there was no need to drag it all out in the open and through the press. Everyone knew that Sirius Black was the Potter’s secret keeper after all, and he had supposedly been caught red-handed killing Pettigrew and the muggles. He knew there had to be more to the story. Oh he didn’t doubt that Black would kill the man who betrayed his friends, but to cause such collateral damage was unlike him. At least it got him out of his hair and was one less person to dispute his placement of the boy. 

Now he just needed to figure out what to do about the godmother when he struck on an idea. It would kill two birds with one stone. He could get control over both of the children of the prophecy in one fell swoop. He made a floo call to Longbottom manor to inform them that it was safe and the danger had passed. If they were to come out of hiding, he was sure that the remaining death eaters would take care of that problem for him too. And if they didn’t…well he had a few death eaters that were loyal to him that he could use to speed things along. In the end he hadn’t needed to. His plan had mostly worked. Just two days later, he got word that Longbottom manor had been attacked and Frank and Alice had both been taken to St Mungos, having lost their minds due to overexposure of the torture curse. He was rather annoyed at the fact that old Augusta had survived and had raised the war wards to full strength, blocking him from access to the child, but Harry was the one who really mattered anyway. Having control over little Neville would just have been a bonus. With both godparents out of the picture and will sealed so no other arrangements could be made, Harry’s placement was secure.


	3. Chapter 3

Healer O’Malley spent a great deal of time over the witch who appeared to be a 57 year old widow named Megan Stevens. Only he knew who she really was and how important she would be to the world when she woke. Her injuries had been extensive and she had yet to regain consciousness. From what he could tell, she had been hit with something, or hit something herself that had caused a lot of broken bones and some brain damage, before she was crushed by something else just exacertabting the issue. She’d had to have most of her bones regrown which wasn’t horribly difficult and had been finished in the first week. More difficult were the muscles and tendons that had been damaged beyond repair. They took another two months to not only repair, but regain the strength they had prior to the incident. His biggest worry was the brain damage and after more than three months, he began to worry that she would never wake. Now that the rest of her injuries were taken care of he would have at most a few more weeks before he would have to have her transferred to long term care. He would much rather keep her here. As long as he was her primary healer, he could keep her existence and survival a secret, but if she were transferred, he would have to tell her new healer and after what happened to the Longbottoms, he knew that it would be a disaster if that got out. 

Finally, just over a week later, three and a half months after she had been brought in, Lily Potter, currently Megan Stevens, started to stir. The mediwitch on duty immediately called for Healer O’Malley who rushed to her side and sent the mediwitch out so he didn’t have to worry about any secrets being spilled to anyone not in the know. It was a few minutes later, while he was still running scans when she opened her eyes and tried to speak. All that came out was a raspy sound though and the healer quickly handed her a glass of water he had conjured. She drank down about half of it, along with the three potions he handed her in quick succession afterwards. “Harry,” she half-asked, half demanded information. 

The healer was quick to reassure her. “He’s safe and hidden and being well taken care of. Don’t worry. Let’s just get you all healed up and then you can go to him.” His scans had told him she was essentially healed, but he still wanted to keep her for observation for a few days, just to make sure. 

“Okay. Good. I’m glad Sirius was able to get him hidden away,” she said relieved, knowing that if she wasn’t with her son, then Sirius, despite how irresponsible as he seemed, would do whatever he had to do to keep him safe. 

The healer frowned as he ran a few more scans, but didn’t correct her. Not yet. He wanted to make sure she was alright before he started to tell her all that had happened while she was out. He was concerned that she didn’t seem to remember that Sirius Black had been their secret keeper. He told her that she had been unconscious for more than three months so he wanted to keep an eye on her for a while. 

Lily had been in training to be a mediwitch before Harry was born so she knew the drill and decided to be patient. As much as she wanted to see her baby and see with her own eyes that he was safe and sound, she knew that asking Sirius to bring him here would be dangerous. When the healer informed her that her identity was hidden she nodded gratefully to him and agreed to keep up the fiction with the mediwitches that were helping to care for her. Once he left she soon found the boredom of being in the hospital descending on her and quickly asked the next mediwitch that came in if she could get copies of all the newspapers since Halloween. She had a lot of reading to catch up on. 

The mediwitch, not knowing why that would be a bad idea, happily gave into her request. She knew that the woman had come in before word had spread that Voldemort was gone and thus had no idea that they were at peace again so she thought it would be a good idea to cheer her up. When she returned with the newspapers, she was asleep again though so the mediwitch left them on her bedside table in chronological order for when she woke up. 

It was only a few hours later when Lily woke up and stretched, turning the light on and smiling as she noticed the papers sitting there and started to read. She read about the attack on her family and that Voldemort was gone and got confirmation that Harry survived, at least as far as the prophet reported anyway and smiled as she read the entire paper cover to cover before moving on to the next. The third one she started, she dropped in shock as her loud “WHAT!?” echoed down the hallway and brought all the staff barreling into her room to see what was wrong. 

By the time they got there, she had managed to calm herself mostly though. So Sirius was arrested. It wasn’t that big of a deal. His trial would have proven him innocent and she was sure that Professor Dumbledore had taken care of it. He knew who the secret keeper really was after all. She looked a little sheepishly at the nervous hospital staff and said, “Sorry. I just read where Sirius Black was arrested and it caught me off guard. I hadn’t gotten to his trial and acquittal yet.” 

The three other people in the room looked at each other nervously trying to decide who was going to tell her before one of the men finally spoke up. “He wasn’t acquitted. He was convicted. He’s You-Know-Who’s second in command. Worst of the worst.”

Lily couldn’t help it. She laughed. This was a joke. It had to be. There was no other explanation. She knew that Sirius couldn’t possibly be a death eater. The lack of any other laughter in the room stopped her cold. “You’re joking. Right?” she asked coldly. It wasn’t funny anymore. 

“No ma’am. Did you know him? I heard he had most everyone fooled, so you wouldn’t be alone. I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” another man told her. 

Lily threw the blanket off of her and growled, “I need to get out of here.”

There was a flurry of activity as they tried to get her back in the bed and call for the healer. When he came in just a moment later she turned to him with heated glare and said, “Take this damn glamour off of me and I am leaving.”

“You really should stay here for a few more days…” he tried to reason with her. 

“The hell I will. I have the right to leave whenever I choose and I. AM. LEAVING. Now take it off!” she practically yelled at him. 

Healer O’Malley sighed heavily and did as she asked causing the others in the room to gasp as Lily Potter was standing in front of them. “But Mrs. Potter…Sirius Black…”

“Has never killed anyone and would sooner slit his throat than work for Voldemort. He wasn’t our secret keeper and I am going to make sure the whole damn world knows it!” She snarled as she stormed out the door. She knew that Harry would be fine with Frank and Alice for another day or two while she took care of getting Sirius free. She would go see him after tearing the ministry a new one.


	4. Chapter 4

Lily apparated to the visitor’s entrance to the ministry on a mission and when she stopped at the guard’s desk she noticed everyone staring and whispering at her, but she wasn’t in the mood. Between how angry she already was and the fact that all the attention took her back to her Hogwarts days when she was persecuted for being a ‘mudblood’ that dared to be better than the purebloods, suffice it to say she was in a bad mood. The guard at the desk, said in a confused voice, “But you’re dead…”

“Obviously, I’m not. Now I need to see the head of the DMLE or the Minister. Now!” she said impatiently. 

He quailed under her glare, but steeled himself. “You…you would have to visit the registrar’s office first to verify your identity and have your death certificate retracted. I…I’ll call an escort down.”

“I don’t need a damn escort and I’ll do that once I’ve talked to who I need to talk to.”

“I…I’m sorry, ma’am. We can’t let someone who’s legally dead wander around the ministry without an escort,” he said nervously. 

“Listen to me you little…” was as far as she got before she heard a throat clearing behind her. 

“I considered Lily Potter a friend. I will escort you to the registrar’s office and I swear if this is a trick I will see you behind bars for the rest of your natural life,” the woman said narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the dead ringer for her old friend. 

“Amelia! Thank goodness. Fine. We’ll go to the registrar first, then I need to talk to Barty and preferable Millicent too.”

Amelia Bones couldn’t help the hope she felt surge through her when she first laid eyes on Lily Potter. Lily had been a few years behind her at Hogwarts and she had taken the girl under her wing. They were never best friends, but they were relatively close and seeing her again was a breath of fresh air. Then reality intruded. Lily Potter was dead. This had to be someone playing a horribly cruel joke. Possibly a death eater trying to find Harry Potter even. She would get to the bottom of this one way or another and then take care of this imposter. “Not a word,” the head auror said sharply, grabbing the woman’s arm and leading her towards the registrar’s office. 

Only the fact that this was Amelia, made Lily hold her tongue. She knew that once she proved who she was that Amelia would help her. She’d known from the paper that she was thought dead, but obviously they hadn’t had a body, so it should have taken longer for her to be declared legally dead. This was a hassle, but she would deal with it for now and then find out how everything could have possibly gotten so screwed up. Knowing that she was legally dead just made everything more confusing. If both she and James were dead then the will should have been read and everyone would know that Peter was the secret keeper. 

The clerk at the desk of the registrar’s office gasped on seeing who walked in with Amelia and raced for the supervisor. This was above his pay grade. As the department head came in, her eyes narrowed at the supposed imposter and she jerked her head back towards her office where Amelia followed, Lily in tow. Coleen Finnegan, grabbed Lily’s hand, none too gently and pulled the dagger across her palm, letting the blood flow through the runes and onto the parchment on the table. She let go like she had been electrocuted as the words began to form. 

Lily Marie Potter nee Evans  
Husband: James Charlus Potter (deceased)  
Mother: Rose Evans (deceased)  
Father: Harold Evans (deceased)  
Siblings: Petunia Lynne Dursley nee Evans  
Children: Harry James Potter

“L-Lily…” Amelia breathed watching the words with wide eyes. “But…how…”

“I…I think we need further confirmation,” Coleen said. “There will be many people who will try to dispute this test as I’m sure we both know.”

“What do you suggest?” Amelia asked recognizing the truth of her words. She knew that Albus Dumbledore alone would not give up her son’s location without incontrovertible proof. 

“I suggest we call the goblins. It would be impossible to fool a goblin’s method of identification. We should also test her magical signature too just to make sure.”

“I am right here you know,” Lily said annoyed not only that they were talking about her as if she wasn’t there but also having to jump through even more hoops before she got to the purpose of her visit. She wanted to get all this over with and get things moving for Sirius and then get to her son. 

“Sorry, Lils,” Amelia said sheepishly. “But she’s right. We need to get everything in order so that no one can refute the fact that you’re alive. I don’t know if you’re aware but you are regarded as a hero now. You, James, and Harry. Where have you been?” 

“I’ve been in St. Mungos. I just woke up yesterday and found out how screwed up everything is…”

She was cut off by the entrance of a goblin carrying a large sphere, a ritual dagger and a strange box that most recognized, but none could say what exactly it did, beyond confirm identity. Lily was first directed to place her hand on the globe which spit out a parchment similar to the one they’d just seen, but with even more information in a full family tree going back five generations. Her hand was then cut again as blood was dripped onto the runes in the box before it slid open and she rolled her eyes as the goblin pulled out the Potter family ring. She and James had rarely worn them and not at all since they went into hiding. The goblin handed her the ring and she put it on her finger and with a flash of light it resized itself to fit confirming her as Lily Potter, Lady Potter. 

That was the last barrier for Amelia, who pulled Lily into a huge hug which the redhead returned before stepping back. “Now that we know who I am, can we get on with business. I need to get to the Longbottom’s and see my son.”

Amelia gasped. It hadn’t dawned on her that Lily wouldn’t know. “I’m so sorry, Lils. Alice and Frank…they…they were caught out by death eaters and tortured. They’re…they’re in St. Mungos long term care. They don’t…they’re not…THEM anymore.”

Lily’s hand came to her mouth as she gasped. “Harry…” she said fearfully. If he was with them…”

“Harry wasn’t there. Dumbledore whisked him away to safety after what happened to you and James and wouldn’t tell anyone where he is, but he wasn’t with the Longbottoms.”

“But if he’s not with Sirius or Alice and Frank then where…”

“Sirius is…”

“Innocent!” Lily snapped seeing that Amelia was about to tell her about his crimes. “He wasn’t our secret keeper and I don’t see how everyone thinks he was. Professor Dumbledore was the one who did the fidelus charm so he knew, plus if both James and I were declared dead, our wills stated who the secret keeper was as well as a long list of homes for Harry. Since you obviously don’t have him either, I want to find out who the hell has my son!”

Amelia went white at the information. She knew that Barty Crouch Sr. was on his way out. He had been headed that way ever since his son was caught after the attack on the Longbottoms, and she knew that she was the frontrunner for his job. Taking this to him would be a disaster. They needed to go higher. Especially since Dumbledore seemed to be implicated in all this as well. “Follow me,” she said shortly and started making her way to Minister Bagnold’s office. She knew the minister would likely call Barty Crouch in, but this way, there would be less chance of things being pushed aside. 

Sure enough, Amelia had barely started speaking before the minister held up a hand to stop her, and had an aid send the head of the DMLE into her office. He blanched at seeing Lily Potter sitting there and wondered what new disaster was about to befall him. Once he was seated, Lily, completely out of patience now, threw the opening salvo. “I want to know how Sirius Black was convicted of crimes he was innocent of. Wasn’t he given veritaserum?” She knew that he wasn’t the biggest fan of the truth drug, given many of his indiscretions, but given the seriousness of the charges she couldn’t believe he would refuse it. “And didn’t Dumbledore tell everyone that he wasn’t the secret keeper? And where did he put my son?” 

Those questions alone were enough to see the brown stuff hit the twirly thing and Crouch started protesting his innocence rather vociferously before the minister stood and said, “ENOUGH!” causing him to snap his mouth closed and mentally begin preparing for his sacking. She sat back down and turned to Lily. “I will attempt to answer your questions to the best of my ability. Sirius Black, against my judgement was not given a trial. Chief Warlock Dumbledore testified that Sirius Black was, in fact, the secret keeper, and there were deemed to be enough witnesses to the murder of Peter Pettigrew and the muggles that a trial was not considered necessary…”

“Wizards on a busy muggle street?” Lily asked suspiciously. 

“I’m surprised at you Mrs. Potter. As a muggleborn, your dismissal of muggles as reliable witnesses is shocking,” Crouch said trying to salvage something of his reputation here. 

Lily knew what he was implying. She knew that purebloods often thought of muggles as moronic children. “Only because a muggle wouldn’t know the difference between a shield charm and the killing curse. They would have no idea what they were seeing in a magical battle. I assume you did a priori incantatem on the wands? At least Sirius’ since he was captured?” she snapped. 

Before he could answer, Minister Bagnold did and got back to the matter at hand. “Sirius Black’s wand was snapped at the scene. As far as your son, Chief Warlock Dumbledore has kept that information to himself and I can assure you I will bring all the pressure I have to bear in order to see him found and returned to you. Mr. Crouch. Your last act as head of the DMLE will be to have Lily Potter’s body exhumed and investigated. I want to know how it came to be and the magical signature of the culprit. Your success and discretion in this task will decide whether you are sacked or arrested. Amelia, you are to get Sirius Black out of Azkaban immediately and have him transferred to the DMLE holding cells. I will call for an emergency Wizengamot meeting for this afternoon and we will give Sirius Black his long overdue trial and find out from our ‘esteemed’ chief warlock where Harry Potter was placed so that his mother may retrieve him. I expect, Mr. Crouch, that I will have answers from you by then?”

“Yes, minister,” Crouch said solemnly as he high-tailed it out of the office like he was on fire. Amelia gave a slight bow to the minister before leaving to carry out her own task. They only had five hours until the emergency meeting and it was a three hour trip to get to Azkaban and back.


	5. Chapter 5

Once they were alone in the office, Millicent Bagnold turned to Lily Potter. “I’m sure there is much more information that I need from you, so why don’t you tell me what you know about what happened that night and the events leading up to it, and how no one knew that you survived.”

Lily took the offered drink of water and started her tale. She told about the prophecy, not the wording of course, just the existence of it, them going into hiding along with the Longbottoms. Albus Dumbledore performing the fidelus charm to make Peter Pettigrew the secret keeper and, in fact, suggesting him as the secret keeper to begin with stating that Sirius would be too obvious. Sirius had the idea to tell everyone that he was the secret keeper so they would be chasing him instead of Peter. She told them about creating their wills and having Sirius and Dumbledore as the witnesses since no one else could know where they were. She walked the minister through everything that happened that night, but couldn’t say much about how she survived. The last thing she remembered was being thrown towards the wall. She did say that the healer, when he heard what happened, had put a glamour charm on her and falsified her records to keep her secret so that no death eaters would come after her in the hospital as he had told her when she woke last night. Then when she got the papers this morning and found out about Sirius she headed here to get the mess straightened out. 

The minister’s frown was even more pronounced by the time she finished her story. She didn’t like the implications of this at all. She had the terrifying feeling that she was about to be forced to topple societies greatest figure of light and she didn’t know if they would be able to survive it. Not after Voldemort’s threat had just ended. They were still trying to put things back together from that mess and now this. She had to do her duty though. This woman had a right to her son and if Sirius Black was truly innocent she couldn’t let him waste away in Azkaban. If that meant toppling the ‘leader of the light’ then that was just too bad. “I’m sorry. You must be hungry. Let me call for some lunch before the meeting,” she said for lack of anything else to say. 

“Thanks. Yeah, I ate last night after I woke up, but I kinda ran out this morning before breakfast,” Lily said gratefully. She would have her son back in her arms by tonight and hopefully they could go home with Sirius too, but she knew that after three and a half months in Azkaban, he may need to spend some time in St. Mungos first. Now that her anger was receding she was finding herself more hurt and confused than anything else. Professor Dumbledore had been a mentor. He was always this larger than life figure and the idea of him betraying them was hitting her hard. There had to be some sort of explanation for all this, but for the life of her she couldn’t think of one. She had every intention of getting to the bottom of this though and anyone betraying her family was going to burn. Even if it was Albus Dumbledore. The two women ate in silence, both making plans for the rest of the day. 

Lily headed for the visitor’s gallery, her hood pulled up on her cloak. She wasn’t sure if she should reveal herself right away or not, so best to stay hidden until she needed to be revealed. She sat in the second row back and watched as the Wizengamot members filed in, none looking particularly happy to have their days interrupted. 

Millicent Bagnold sat in the minister’s seat ignoring the annoyed frown that Albus Dumbledore was sending her way. She knew how he felt about emergency meetings being called during the school year, especially on weekdays, but that was just too bad. Once everyone was seated, she stood. “I have called this emergency meeting because new evidence has come to light regarding the case of Sirius Black. His trial was suspended due to overwhelming evidence previously, but that trial will be held now in light of this new evidence.”

Albus had a sinking feeling that all his hard work was about to be undone. He had to try and stop this. “I must object. Sirius Black is obviously guilty. He was the Potter’s secret keeper and there are dozens of witnesses to the murder of Peter Pettigrew and the twelve muggles. I further find it insulting that we are called to waste our time on an emergency meeting over this issue,” he said with a glare at the minister. It had been hard enough to convince her that the evidence was enough to forgo a trial the first time. 

Lily was fuming now. She wanted to jump to her feet and scream at him and call him a liar, but held her tongue as the minister said, “Yes. We are all aware of your opinion on this matter since you were the one who pushed for him to not have a trial to begin with. For the rest of you here, I apologize for the interruption of your routines, but as I said, new evidence has come to light. What I propose is that we bring in the accused and offer him veritaserum so that we can get to the truth of the matter quickly.”

“And if he refuses?” one of the members asked. If it were that easy he wouldn’t mind taking a few minutes of his time to confirm the man was guilty and send him right back to his cell. 

“Then we will call for a vote to compel him to do so,” the minister said with a smirk. If Lily Potter was right then he wouldn’t refuse and if she wasn’t then the annoyance of having to come in for an emergency session on no notice would make everyone far more likely to agree to compel him just so that they could get back to their days. Little did they know that their day was about to get even more complicated. When there were no more objections, she glanced over at the chief warlock who she could tell was trying to hold his temper. 

Dumbledore, for his part, was trying to make up more plans on the fly including bribing a mind healer to find Sirius incompetent and thus unable to have custody of a child, but there was nothing he could do to stop this now. “Very well. Bring in the accused.”

Lily gasped at the sight of Sirius and tears filled her eyes. He must have lost over fifty pounds since she had last seen him and he didn’t have that much to lose in the first place. He looked like a skeleton and his eyes looked almost dead. She even wondered for a moment if he had been kissed before she chided herself. He was still walking on his own, even if he was stumbling and weak, so his soul was still intact at least. She saw Bagnold offer him veritaserum and he said, “Finally! Yes. Please,” causing a low confused murmur through the crowd. 

Millicent was going to take over the questioning herself. She had enough information from Lily to know how to word the questions to get enough dirt to compel Dumbledore to release the information on little Harry Potter. She administered the truth serum and started asking questions. “What is your name?”

“Sirius Orion Black.”

“When were you born?”

“November 3rd 1960”

“Were you the Potter’s secret keeper?”

“No.”

The noise level rose considerably until the minister glared around the room and they shut up. 

“Do you know who the secret keeper was?”

“Peter Pettigrew.”

“Who performed the Fidelus Charm?” she asked with a smirk noticing Dumbledore standing to object but he wasn’t fast enough. 

“Professor Albus Dumbledore.”

The noise was now nearly deafening and the minister had to speak with a sonorous charm to get everyone to be quiet. Once they were Dumbledore decided he had to do some damage control. “I must object. It is clear that the veritaserum must be faulty.”

There were a lot of nods throughout the room as they finally had an explanation for the strange answers they were getting. That’s when Lily couldn’t hold her tongue anymore. “That is a lie!” she said standing up and throwing her hood back. “You performed the charm and knew full well that Sirius wasn’t the secret keeper!” 

Millicent, once more, had to use the sonorous charm as she yelled, “ENOUGH!” as chaos reigned through the chambers. “We will address Lady Potter’s survival at the conclusion of the questioning of Mr. Black and there will be no more interruptions. Is that understood?” 

The rest of the chamber nodded as Sirius said, “Yes,” unable to avoid answering a direct question. Inside he was screaming with joy that Lily was still alive. He may have lost his brother, but his sister survived. So did his godson. The veritaserum kept his face blank though as it waited for more questions. 

“What happened the night of November 1st this year?”

“I had finally caught up to Peter in an alley, but he quickly ran out into the crowd and then turned to me and yelled about how I betrayed James and Lily before he drew his wand. I cast a shield charm against whatever he decided to throw at me, but he cast a cutting charm at his finger followed by a blasting charm at the ground behind him that caused an explosion. I saw him transform into his rat form and escape down to the sewers just before the aurors showed up.”

“The reports say that you were laughing. Why is that?” 

“I couldn’t believe that bumbling little Peter Pettigrew actually got one over on me. I was both laughing and crying at the same time. I wasn’t exactly in my right mind. The next thing I knew I was waking up in Azkaban.”

This caused the minister to frown even more. She had assumed that he had at least been questioned. In fact, Barty Crouch had told her that he had been questioned and confessed. “Were you never questioned about the event?” 

“No. This is the first time anyone has asked me what happened.” 

“Have you ever committed a crime?” she asked just as a catch-all to make sure nothing was overlooked. 

“I am an unregistered Animagus,” he admitted. Sure there had been some things he had done in school that had been nearly criminal, but they weren’t technically crimes so he didn’t have to admit them. 

“Is that the only crime you have ever committed?” 

“Yes.” 

She administered the antidote and turned to the chamber as Sirius’ eyes fell on Lily just drinking in the sight of her alive and well. “The standard sentence for an unregistered Animagus is 30 days in the low security wing of Azkaban and a 50,000 galleon fine. Since the suspect has already spent 103 days in the high security wing of Azkaban I move that the fine be waived and he be found innocent of all other charges.” The vote went quickly and Sirius was released and immediately ran to Lily who met him halfway and wrapped him in a tight hug. 

“How are you still alive? What happened?” he asked excitedly. 

“I think we would all like the answer to that,” Dumbledore said impatiently. He knew that it had to be an imposter and he was going to prove it before he had Black declared mentally incompetent. No one could be permitted to interfere with his placement of the Potter boy.


	6. Chapter 6

“Aurors. Arrest this imposter,” Dumbledore ordered now that he had the full attention of the chamber. 

“Aurors, hold!” Bagnold said fuming before she turned to the chief warlock, though not for much longer if she had anything to say about it. “You do not have the authority to order someone’s arrest, especially without any proof!”

“Proof? Lily Potter is dead. Everyone knows that. Therefore, that has to be an imposter!” Dumbledore said heatedly losing control of both the situation and his temper.

“Just like everyone knew that Sirius Black was guilty?” she shot back. “Lily Potter was severely injured in the attack on her home on Halloween and was in St. Mungos kept under a secrecy charm for her protection.

“But there was a body!” someone interrupted. 

“Mr. Crouch?” she turned and waited for his report. He had just returned from his examinations after the session started so she wasn’t aware of what he had found yet. 

“We exhumed the body of Lily Potter this morning after her identity was confirmed. We reversed the transfiguration on the body and found the body of a small housecat. We analyzed the magical signature and found that the transfiguration was carried out by Albus Dumbledore.”

“Thank you, Mr. Crouch. Lily Potter woke last night in St. Mungos and was released this morning after finding out about Sirius’ accusations. She has come to see justice done for him and to retrieve her son, so if you would kindly tell us where he is, we can be finished with this business.”

“I’m afraid that I can’t do that,” Dumbledore said, having regained a bit of his equilibrium. “I have placed him somewhere that he can be safe from any remaining followers of Voldemort and anyone who may wish to use him for his fame. Having his dead mother, suddenly alive is an obvious ruse to lure him out of safety and I cannot allow that.”

“Lady Potter has had her identity confirmed by our registrar’s office, as well as the goblins of Gringotts and she currently wears the Potter ring. If she were not Lady Potter, simply putting that ring on her finger would have killed her. There is no doubt that she is who she says she is so you will tell her where to find her son,” the minister ordered. 

Dumbledore had to consider that for a moment before he had an answer. “I will not fall for such a ruse. Results can be faked and as far as the ring, the Potter lordship could have been granted to a cadet line, giving them cause to use the ring.”

Lily forced her temper back as she went over to the minister and spoke in hushed tones for a moment and she nodded before speaking quietly into a communications device. There was an uproar when Albus Dumbledore slumped over, unconscious from a stunning spell. “Quiet! I have stunned the chief warlock momentarily. Lady Potter will take veritaserum to prove her identity and then if Albus Dumbledore will not tell her where her son is, I will call for a vote to compel him to take some as well.” She had Dumbledore brought down to the gallery and revived after magic restricting manacles were placed on him and Lily took a seat and opened her mouth for the three drops of the potent truth serum. “What is your name?”

“Lily Marie Potter nee Evans.”

“What is your date of birth?” 

“January 30th 1960”

Just to make sure all bases were covered she asked, “What name were you born with?”

“Lily Marie Evans.”

The minister gave her the antidote and turned to Dumbledore. “Now you will tell her where her son is,” she ordered. 

“I still refuse to believe this ruse. This is the same vial of the potion that may have been tainted when questioning Sirius Black and I will not allow anyone to harm the child,” he held firm trying to create enough doubt to get out of this. He knew that the whole stunning him and putting him in manacles was just a show of force. They wouldn’t be able to pin anything on him really. 

“I move to compel Albus Dumbledore to take some veritaserum himself. Remember, he had the heir to an ancient and noble house imprisoned without a trial on what he knew were false charges, had the Potter will sealed, and bypassed all of our child placement systems to place our hero in a home that was obviously not within the parent’s wishes and he has no grounds to refuse to return the child to his mother. This is a kidnapping situation at this point and well within the purview to compel the truth potion.”

The chamber was very upset at this point and even Dumbledore’s supporters were starting to look at him with suspicion. When Dumbledore opened his mouth to object he found himself silenced. “You are not permitted to participate in this discussion, due to conflict of interest,” the minister said firmly. She would not allow him to weasel his way out of this. If he had simply given the child back to his mother she would have been willing to let the rest go with a simple reprimand and vote for removal as chief warlock, but he had forced her hand and she was going to see him in prison. 

The discussion began with a question from Lord Greengrass. “Is the chief warlock being charged with a crime at this time?”

“He is not, though we reserve the right to charge him depending on his answers. If his desire is truly to protect the child through his disbelief in the sincerity of Lady Potter, we would be willing to forgo charges,” she said diplomatically. She doubted that was the case though. He was presented with ample evidence and had to believe that she was really who she said she was. “This is primarily an effort to find a missing child and reunite him with his mother.”

“I think we would all wish to ensure that this will not become a fishing expedition to dig up skeletons in his closet,” Lord Doge spoke up. “This is not a trial and he does not have a solicitor and we would do well to remember that.” 

There were many nods around the room. The minister had planned for such a question, though she would happily have made it a fishing expedition if no one had considered it, so she had a ready reply. “I propose to ask the following questions. Where did you place Harry Potter? Do you believe that this woman is Lily Potter? And if the answer to that question is yes, then I would ask, Why were you attempting to keep her son from her? Based on those answers we would consider charges and reconvene for a trial after allowing him to contact a solicitor.”

No one could argue with those questions and the vote went quickly from there. The serum was administered and the silencing charm was removed. “Where did you place Harry Potter?”

“With his mother’s sister,” Dumbledore said and only the silencing charm that she was quick enough to place on Lily and Sirius saved the chamber from the rants. She couldn’t risk them asking a question in their tirade and losing any possibility of getting any further dirt on the old man. Their reactions alone were enough to tell the chambers that there was something seriously wrong with that placement. 

“Do you believe that this woman is Lily Potter?” 

“Yes.”

“Why were you attempting to keep her son from her?”

“Because he needs to grow up ignorant of our world and malleable enough for me to guide him on his destiny.”

She quickly gave him the antidote as the entire chambers were in an uproar now. To imagine placing a child in a bad home to gain influence over them was unthinkable. That this was the ‘leader of the light’ doing so to their savior and attempting to keep him away from his mother was unforgivable. The minister charged him with kidnapping, abuse of power, and perjury, and was determined to find anything else she could make stick and had him led to a holding cell before she released the session.

She held Sirius back a moment though. “Listen. Siri. I know you want to go with me to get Harry, but you’re barely on your feet right now. You need to go get checked out at St. Mungos first. I’ll go get Harry and then bring him to see you and as soon as they release you, why don’t you come stay at Potter Manor with us for a while until you get back on your feet.”

“You’re not going back to Godric’s Hollow?” he asked curiously. 

“No. I can’t go back in that house and if not for my discomfort with the grandeur of Potter Manor my family would have been safe behind the ancient wards. My idiocy already lost me my husband, but I’ve learned my lesson. We will go to the manor and raise the wards to full strength,” she said firmly. 

“Okay,” Sirius agreed. He did want to go with her to get Harry, but he knew he wasn’t in any shape right now to go anywhere but the hospital. He also realized that she wanted him to stay with them, not as much because of him, but because she was afraid, both of attack and of being in that huge opulent manor by herself, so he wouldn’t argue about that either. “Take care, Lils. And hex them good for me. I’ll see you and Harry soon.”

Lily pulled a galleon from her pocket, it being the only thing she had on her at the moment other than her wand, and made it into a portkey to St. Mungo’s not trusting him to be able to make it there any other way, before she disapparated on the spot and headed to her sister’s house and so help her if her baby wasn’t in perfect condition there would be hell to pay.


	7. Chapter 7

Lily knocked impatiently on the door to number 4 Privet Drive, hoping her sister would answer the door. She didn’t want to have to deal with that animal she married. She got her wish as the door opened. “Hey Tuney,” she said cheerfully. On the off chance her sister did care for her child well this may be an opportunity for reconciliation after all so she didn’t want to start out hostile. She was met with an ear piercing scream and the door nearly slammed in her face. Lily partly expected that. She was sure the Petunia had been told that she was dead. She managed to get her foot inside the door to stop it from closing. “It’s really me Tuney. They thought I was dead after the attack, but I was just hurt really bad. I just got out of the hospital and was told my son is here?” she asked as she all but forced her way inside. 

“He…he’s out with…with Vernon and Dudley right now. If you come back in a few hours I’ll have him ready for you,” she said fearfully. 

“That’s ok. I can wait,” she said getting a little suspicious. “As you can imagine, after so long away I’m more than anxious to see my son,” she said louder than she needed to, but she knew if her Harry were here he would hear her voice. 

She heard a mournful cry of, “Mommy!” followed by sobs and followed the sound to the cupboard under the stairs. 

She gave her sister a glare promising severe retribution and ripped the door open so hard it came off in her hand and tears started falling from her eyes. Her baby had lost so much weight he was just skin and bones. She could see the bruises on his little body and she could tell just by looking at it that his diaper hadn’t been changed in at least a few days. She cast and quick sleeping spell over Harry and turned to her sister and started screaming at her. “You stupid horse faced cow! How could you treat a child this way! I should kill you where you stand!” Each sentence was punctuated with a hex. The first was a whipping hex that caused a long line to appear from her right hip to her left shoulder as the blood pooled there staining her shirt, followed by a bludgeoning hex throwing her against the wall hard enough to knock the pictures off and make her a little dizzy as she fell. The last time she just kicked her. “And just so you know…since it’s a magical child you abused, you can be tried in the magical courts. You WILL be hearing from me again. SOON!” she yelled as she stormed out. She would love to do more, but she needed to get Harry to the hospital. She knew that she wasn’t going to press charges for the abuse because then she would be in trouble for hexing a muggle, but her sister didn’t know that. Let her live in fear and uproot her life trying to run away. It was no less than she deserved. 

She took her son directly to the emergency room and saw healer O’Malley as soon as she arrived and ran over to him. He took one look at the child and gasped, ushering her into a room. After a quick assessment including removal of the old diaper, he turned to tell her what he’d found. “He is dangerously malnourished. His magic is keeping him going and we caught it in time, but if it had gone on for much longer it would have started to weaken his magic. He also has quite a few bruises, but nothing major. I don’t like this rash though. Not with his immune system already weakened by the malnourishment. I would like to keep him for a few days while we take care of the rash and we will prescribe nutrient potions for at least a few months. My biggest worry at the moment is the dark magic emanating from his scar. We will need to have some specialists take a look at it. Anything you might be able to tell them would be helpful.”

“Okay. Thank you. Would it be possible for him to share a room with his godfather, Sirius Black. He should have come in a little while ago and it would be easier if I didn’t have to go back and forth between two rooms.”

“Yes. We can do that. I’ll even make sure there is a third bed for you. That way you’ll get the observation I wanted to do before and I’m sure you won’t want to leave your son anyway,” he told her. 

“Yes. Of course. That’s fine. I’m sorry for running out this morning, but…well…” 

“S’all right lass. Now that I’ve seen the results, I can’t blame you much for it. You managed to save an innocent man from hell on earth and your baby son from what must have been the same. I’d have done the same in your position.”

She gave him a grateful smile as he led her down the hall to Sirius’ room. She just knew the marauder was going to go ballistic at the state of his godson, but at least this way he could see with his own eyes that he would be okay rather than her just telling him about it. She had kept the sleeping spell on him while the healer looked him over and she left it on so that he wouldn’t hear Sirius’ outburst. She could imagine that he would be rather skittish for a while, especially when people yell. She knew she would need to remove it soon so that he could eat something so she would reign Sirius in as quickly as possible. 

She stepped into the room behind the healer and Sirius sat up with a grin. “Hey Lils. How’s…” he trailed off momentarily as he looked at the baby in her arms before he blew his top. “What the fuck did those fuckers do to him! I’ll kill them! How dare they!” Lily sent a light stinging hex at him. “Ow!” he jumped. 

“First, watch your language. Second, I need to take the sleeping spell off of Harry, and I’m sure you can see he’s been through a lot. He doesn’t need to hear you yelling right now. Third, I already took care of my ‘dear’ sister and they are probably fleeing the country at the moment, so calm down.”

Sirius deflated at number two. He could definitely imagine what sort of reaction yelling would cause in Harry right now and he would do whatever it took to help his godson. “Okay. I’m calm. But if I ever run across that…cow, I will kill her.”

“And I will help you,” Lily promised. “But Harry needs to stay for a few days too and I ran out of here this morning before the healers wanted me to, so we are all gonna hang here together. How are you?” 

“Malnourished, muscle atrophy, nightmares, but nothing major. I’ll be out of here in a few days too,” he told her. 

She nodded and lifted the spell on Harry and he looked up at her and cried, “Mommy!” 

“It’s okay, my baby. Mommy’s here and I’ll never leave you again. I promise.”

“No go back?” he asked with hopeful tears in his big green eyes.

“No baby. You’re never going back there again. You’re gonna stay with me and Uncle Padfoot from now on,” she told him. 

That’s when he noticed the other person in the room. “Unca pa’foo!” he said reaching out to him. 

Sirius pulled him in for a hug. “I gotcha buddy. We’re gonna take good care of you from now on.” They both knew that it was going to take more than one conversation to get the boy over his new fears of abandonment and the trauma he had experienced, but he would heal. They all would. 

The healer came back in with three meals and told both Harry and Sirius to eat as much as they could and he would be back in a little while to give them their potions. Neither of them managed to eat more than half the meal, but the healer expected that. He gave them each a nutrient potion, a muscle regenerator, and a dreamless sleep potion. Harry took his right away and drifted off to sleep. Sirius set his to the side to take later. 

Lily sat next to Harry’s bed, running a hand through his hair as he slept blissfully when Sirius asked. “According to the talk he survived the killing curse and blew Voldemort up?” 

“So I heard. You know how I was working on a ritual to protect him if anything happened to James and me?” Sirius nodded. “Well I managed to finish it. I expected us both to die to power it, but we didn’t need to. It would basically draw on our power and our love to shield him from any evil. Technically, if Voldemort had thrown a cutting curse at him it wouldn’t have helped a bit, but everyone knows he kills with the killing curse and since that curse is based in evil it was reflected back by the shield. And you know the magical backlash when a wizard commits suicide with magic.”

“So sorry to eavesdrop, Lady Potter. I am Healer Thorn. I am a dark magic specialist. Would it be possible for me to get the details of that ritual? It may help us to figure out what is going on with his scar and how to help him.”

Lily bit her lip for a moment in thought. She didn’t want the ritual to get out. Not only was it borderline dark itself, but there was too much potential for abuse and if dark wizards knew about it they would just start killing with the cutting curse or the like instead, but to help her son…”Will you give an oath that no one else will find out?”

The healer nodded and gave the oath without question. He too could see the dangers of such knowledge becoming commonplace and his only goal was to help the child who had saved them all. After he finished his exam he frowned and tried to consider how to tell them the news before he realized it’s best to just bite the bullet.


	8. Chapter 8

Healer Thorn had Lily sit down and made sure that Sirius was comfortable. “First off, I would like to tell you that it’s not as bad as you may think. I will need to give you a little background so that you understand what’s happening, but try not to jump to conclusions okay?” He waited until he got nervous nods from both of them. “Do either of you know anything about horcruxes?” 

Lily furrowed her brow curiously and Sirius’ eyes went wide in recognition and he was really hoping that warning at the beginning meant that he wasn’t saying that Harry had a horcrux in his scar. “I know a little about them. Comes from growing up in a dark family, but I’m more interested in knowing where you’re going with this.”

He saw that Lily was clueless so he directed an explanation to her. “A Horcrux is a repository of a bit of a wizard’s soul. There is a ritual requiring a sacrifice that will break off that piece and store it separately from the body and keep the wizard alive when he otherwise would have died. The thing is, that they don’t work the way most think they do. Otherwise we would be hip deep in evil wizards because they’d never die. No, what they actually do, is take any killing blows and shift it to the soul piece instead of the wizard. So every time they take a hit that would normally kill them they would have to have another horcrux ready for the next one and eventually they would run out of soul to siphon off and become a dementor, which is where they came from. Now, what Harry has embedded in his scar is what is called a soul leech. It is created when a wizard has already done the ritual to prepare for a horcrux but not yet completed it and then attempts to possess a person at the moment of their death. Harry apparently fought off the possession, but when the spirit fled, the piece that was set aside for the horcrux remained with him.”

He saw the horror in their faces and rushed to continue. “As I said, it’s not as bad as you may think. First of all, he’s not a horcrux, though it is similar. The main difference is that his body was not prepared to house such a bit of soul and lacking any of the protections and fortifications that would normally be necessary making the hold that the leech has tenuous at best. That’s why I want to know the details of this ritual you did. Right now, that is the major unknown. Based on the little I know, I would guess that it’s making the soul leech even weaker, but it’s something that we need to take into account before we try and remove it.”

“But it can be removed right? What happens when it is? Does this mean Voldemort can come back?” Lily asked nervously.

“Unless there are unforeseen circumstances, yes it should be able to be removed. At the moment, that soul leech is anchoring Voldemort’s spirit to this plane, but the fact that his body was destroyed means that he was out of horcruxes when it happened and since Harry is a much weaker form of a horcrux, it can’t anchor much more than his spirit and even that not very well. If Voldemort manages to regain his body before we can remove it, then yes he could come back, but if he is still in spirit form, even if he is possessing someone else, his spirit will lose its anchor and pass on. If you can get me the details of this ritual you did, I will do some more research, and maybe a few more tests if needed, and we can figure out the safest way to remove it. Either way it will need to wait until he’s stronger.”

“Stronger how? You mean like healthy or do we have to wait until he gets older?” Sirius asked. 

“Healthy. It’s a balancing act really. The longer it’s there the stronger the hold will be, but to remove it when he’s currently so weak could cause permanent damage or even death. We need to wait until he’s healthier, but we need to get him there as quickly as possible,” Healer Thorn explained. “It will take me at least a few weeks to research everything and come up with the best way to do it and by then he should be well into his nutrient potion regimen so as long as he doesn’t have any other illnesses or injury, we can see about taking care of this in about a month’s time. That should be long enough on the nutrient potion that he will be strong enough, but we can also wait three months until the end of his potions regimen so that he will be at his peak. Whichever way you feel is best.”

“I…I don’t know,” Lily said with a pained voice looking at Sirius for help. 

Sirius reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Do we have to decide now?” he asked. 

“No. Not at all. You can take your time,” he assured them. 

Lily nodded gratefully and took a parchment and quill from the healer and wrote out all the details on the ritual, including the rune clusters and arithmetic equations before handing it over. He looked it over quickly and nodded. “I’ll get back to you when I have a plan and we can decide then when to do it.” 

Harry and Sirius were both released from the hospital three days later, but both were on nutrient potions for the next three months and Sirius was to see a mind healer once a week to get over the nightmares and trauma from Azkaban. In the meantime, he was on a lighter sleeping potion than dreamless sleep since that could be addictive if taken for too long, but this potion would keep his dreams from being too overwhelming without losing them completely and was safe for long term use. Harry’s rash was cleared up and they were both doing well. Harry was still extremely clingy. He cried whenever he was alone and Lily had taken to sleeping with him in her bed. Sometimes Sirius would take him so that she could get a break, but on those nights he would take dreamless sleep. He was worried about Harry seeing his nightmares and even worse, about possibly hurting his godson while in throes of said nightmare. He could only take it once a week though without medical supervision so he used it wisely. 

It was two weeks before Dumbledore’s trial. They had added the charge of child endangerment due to the state Harry was found in and had the healer’s reports to back it up. Dumbledore refused veritaserum at the trial so it took a lot longer than it could have. The results of the initial interview with the truth drug were dragged out where it was implied that Dumbledore knew that Harry wouldn’t have a happy life, along with the healer’s reports, though the soul leech wasn’t brought up. Then there was the fact that he had Sirius thrown in prison without a trial. It wasn’t until the prosecutor brought up the idea that Dumbledore had engineered what happened to the Longbottoms to get the other godparent out of the way that someone moved to compel veritaserum. The motion passed by a narrow margin. The darks just wanted to nail Dumbledore to the wall and the neutrals and some of the lights were outraged at the idea that he could have had a hand in such a terrible fate befalling two decorated aurors just for control over a child. 

During the questioning, the prophecy came to light, as did the fact that while he didn’t technically pull the trigger so to speak on the Longbottoms, he did tell them it was safe to come out of hiding in the hopes that they would be incapacitated. When further questioning revealed that he wanted control of the Longbottom child as well Augusta Longbottom started pushing for the kiss. Everyone knew it wouldn’t go that far though. What he had done was reprehensible and cold, but not enough for capital punishment. In the end he was sentenced fifty years in Azkaban and at his age it might has well have been a life sentence. Twenty years for child endangerment and kidnapping of Harry. Twenty years for abuse of power, perjury, and kidnapping for Sirius since he was sent Azkaban without a trial, and ten years for tampering with the will of an ancient and noble house for sealing the Potter will for personal gain. 

Two months after the visit to the hospital they managed to remove the soul leech. It went much better than expected. The ritual that Lily had done had it hanging on by only a thread. Harry was a little run down for a few days, but then he bounced back better than ever. His accidental magic was stronger than it had been since the accident and he seemed to be much more free and happy. Since Voldemort hadn’t gotten a body back yet, the dark lord’s spirit passed on with the removal of the leech and the much lightened mark disappeared completely from the arms of the death eaters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of this one. I might decide to do a sequel at some point, but not sure yet.


End file.
